Category: Videogames

My review of Dead Rising 2: Off the Record is up at Machinima. Kindly check it out when you have a chance. It’s a fun game, but largely the same as DR2. Most of the same art assets and levels are used, with some new dialogue, a sanbox mode, and the photography gimmick thrown in. It’s “only” $40…but it’s kind of a tough sell. Here’s the part where I quote myself:

Dead Rising 2: Off the Record offers hours of visceral zombie mashing and allows gamers to have fun slaughtering the undead with all manner of weapons. The problem is, I’m not really sure who this game is for. Only the most ardent Dead Rising fans should buy this game. Gamers that liked or really liked Dead Rising 2, but didn’t love it, will find that it’s too much of the same. Even though this game retails for a relative bargain of $39.99, gamers that only played the first game will be better off playing Dead Rising 2, which can be found for half the cost or less. As for people that liked Dead Rising’s potential but didn’t like the actual game, there aren’t any significant improvements here to make them believers. Off the Record is a must-buy only for those with an irrational love for the series.

I know that several of you enjoyed Dead Rising 2, but are you going to pick this one up? Or are you going to wait until it hits the bargain bin? When you have a chance, please head on over to Machinima and check out my review. Thanks muchly!

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Most of you have been dazzled by Paul Dini’s work in Batman: The Animated Series, Justice League Unlimited, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and more. Although Dini is a relative newcomer in the videogame world, most gamers were thrilled by his writing in Batman: Arkham Asylum. Early reviews indicate that he’s better than ever in Batman: Arkham City. Dini recently discussed the differences between writing for animation and writing for a game. He told  Gamasutra:

It’s like writing the same movie about 12 times, you know? For every variation. You go down and the character has a certain goal to accomplish — like he’s got to get to this room and then there’s a certain boss along the way, and he’s got to go through the other guys. But every loop has to be written, and scripted, and accounted for.

So I find myself looking for variations of thug dialogue a lot, like “What’s that?” “It’s the Bat!” “The Bat, he’s here!” It’s like, how do you say the same thing over and over again? Because every movement — “We got him!” “He got away!” — has to be done over and over again.

As you’d expect, I’m a total Dini mark. The guy is just frickin’ awesome. He owns in the animation and comic-book worlds. His videogame writing is also super good; perhaps one day he’ll be as captivating as the bloke that wrote SmackDown vs. Raw 2011. *joke*

What did you think of Dini’s writing in Arkham Asylum? I know that some of you are picking up Arkham City tonight. When you have a chance, kindly leave your first impressions of the story.

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